The Tiger and the Minx
by AlyCat3
Summary: Deleted scene to episode A Wondrous Place, Snow insists there must be another answer that her stubborn daughter can't see.


"Once upon a time-"

"Mom!" Emma protested at once without lifting herself from where she was slumped over the island of their- her kitchen.

Snow couldn't help the smallest, saddest of smiles at the display. 'Just like the distraught teenager I never got to see', she couldn't help thinking, before clearing her throat and continuing as if there had been no interruption. "There was a Pirate who fell in love with a Princess."

She situated herself beside her daughter on the stool, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in a gown despite wearing nothing but a cream colored wool skirt today. The image in her minds eye of her mother beginning many a tail the same way was one she'd always envisioned replicating for her daughter. "And they met in the most unusual of circumstances, during a great time of loss in the princess' life. She'd just been separated from her son and her father, and despite the princess having her mother there to help, this princess was always on guard of everything around her. The pirate knew this, for he was there for a great evil purpose, but, one look at the princess seemed to change all that."

"Now you're just exaggerating," Emma muttered, opening her eyes and rather inspecting a tile in the floor rather than keeping them closed and letting all of this flash through her mind's eye. "It most definitely was not a love at first sight for us."

Snow just smiled to herself where Emma couldn't see. She'd known of Hook's reputation of course, and had been quite surprised at his willingness to help and how open he'd been. If there was a double-cross in play, it had only begun after Emma had done so first on that beanstalk. Killian had been smitten with her from that first day whether Emma would admit it or not, but for now she continued.

"Now, despite their rocky start, the Pirate was given a choice, to abandon her and her people to an evil he'd helped bring to their world, or help. He made the right choice, of course, and offered his service. Too late, did he know, for just as the Princess found a way for all of her people to live, her son was once again snatched away from her, this time too a far off land only the Pirate himself could navigate.

The Pirate and the Princess shared many an adventure in Neverland," Snow stopped and again gave her daughter a hopeful look. Even not having spent much time with Killian there, she was aware something had changed between her daughter and him on that island. Even before he'd saved David's life something had been blooming, though things had gone a bit murky when Neal was thrown into the mix.

Emma was still feigning no reaction, so Snow kept going. "When the Princess had rescued her son, all had seemed well on its way to a happy ending, but of course life could never be so, the villainous Pan set another curse in motion to rip away all the Princess held dear. Now, the once Evil Queen who had turned ally on Neverland sought to help the Princess and gave her and her most precious son a way out, but still the Princess lost memories of her beloved parents, the father of her child despite all his redeem-ability, and the Pirate who still sought her out.

Time went on, as it does, and the Princess was given a way back to her true home, with the most mysterious of help. The Pirate had been idle in their time apart, pinning for his beloved, but the moment he'd seen the chance to return to his Princess he'd done everything in his power to do so."

Emma couldn't have denied anymore she was listening if her face wasn't buried away. Her throat was tight, her face screwed up with emotion as she remembered all Killian had told her...giving up his ship for her. Before she could let this go on any farther, she sighed before finally looking up at her mother and snapped, "Yeah, you know what the problem with that story is? The pirate never really left Neverland. Those Lost Boys have grown up enough to turn themselves in last week when they broke the window to the ice cream place Dopy took over, but he couldn't face one truthful conversation about what he did so long ago in his past!"

"Emma!" Snow couldn't help but say in the exact exasperated tone her daughter had moments ago, unintentionally of course. "You've completely missed my point. After all you two have been through? You honestly can't see that something else could be going on?"

"Mary-Margaret," Emma accidentally slipped back to calling her in frustration, "you saw him on the docks, with Nemo's ship all but waving him on! How can you still-"

"Have hope?" She asked with the lightest of sympathetic smiles.

"Still be so infuriatingly optimistic." Emma concluded herself.

"After everything your father and I went through before we got together, may I remind you with a few misunderstandings of our own-"

Emma slammed her head back into the crook of her arms rather than having to relive this again for the seventeenth dozenth time. It helped nothing her mother was dragging up such a painful memory, of the day she'd really felt like she could give her tiger a chance. Now she was left the lonely minx.

* * *

It had to have bothered someone else not one person tried to comfort Emma there was a misunderstanding of Hook's disappearance! After all they went through? So I volunteered Snow, hope you enjoy.

Threw this together in about five minutes, I really love their pet names for each other!


End file.
